Staying Put!

Not too long ago I mentioned a decision Josh and I made recently. We've decided that we're staying put for a while! We plan on staying here for about 7-10 years so we're planning on buying a house! We've decided to stay & buy a house for several reasons.

* Josh has a great job with great benefits
* He makes much more money here than he would in other places
* There are many other opportunities for both of us up here & he can advance quickly
* I found I job I love
* We like it here...no reason to rush out
* Throwing away rent for 7-10 years is absolutely ridiculous
* Market is down = great time to buy & it's a great area to invest in real estate
* FL is pretty much opposite of the above right now...you can get a house dirt cheap...but the jobs/opportunities just aren't there

So...we're both very excited. We actually went this weekend to look at a few models. We found one we both LOVE but the location is just not good. The commute to work could almost double depending on traffic & we have some concerns about industrial zoning nearby. Although I LOVED the house & the community...I know it's not the best decision for us. After all of the upgrades we want it would be at the VERY top of our budget...actually a little over. Anyway...at the time we were really excited about it & we were seriously considering it. Then we had to drive home from it. Josh's job is on the way so we saw how long it would take without traffic. Definitely not cool with it. So here are a few pictures...
Sitting area in the master. I would personally prefer to donate a little space from here to each of the other 2 bedrooms...but it's cute. :-)

The master looking into the master bath. We didn't take a picture of the master bath but it was pretty much amazing!

Kitchen...the sun room is to the left, living room to the right & the dining area is where Josh was standing when he took the pic. We would have chosen darker cabinets & granite. The only thing I would change is the amount of counter space...I wish there was just a little bit more.

In the coming weeks we'll be meeting with a lender to get pre-approved for a loan & meeting with our real estate agent to view some resales. I'll definitely keep you posted on our progress :-)

Sunday after church we were riding around checking out different areas. We saw a sign for an open house so we followed it. As soon as we saw the house we knew it was well beyond our price range but we went in just for fun. OMG...it was AMAZING. Basically the kitchen & bathroom did it for me. Here it is. The pictures really don't do it justice. There's not even a picture of the pantry, which is about the size of my kitchen & dining room combined. One of the common areas is a finished basement that we never found. Clearly it's like double our budget & we definitely don't need a house this big. You could literally fit over 8 of our apartments in this house! It's insane. The master was actually too big.But it's actually a good price for a house this size & I loved the location. It's kind of in the country part of MD. We saw so many horses...it kind of felt like home :-) I wouldn't even know what to do with all this space. Anyway, back to reality.